Blue Ocean Strategy

1. “Value innovation is the cornerstone of blue ocean strategy. We call it value innovation because instead of focusing on beating the competition, you focus on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and your company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space.”

2. “A company should never outsource its eyes. There is simply no substitute for seeing for yourself. Great artists don’t paint from other people’s descriptions or even from photographs; they like to see the subject for themselves. The same is true for great strategists.”

3. “What is the context in which your product or service is used? What happens before, during, and after? Can you identify the pain points? How can you eliminate these pain points through a complementary product or service offering?”

4. “It is conventionally believed that companies can either create greater value to customers at a higher cost or create reasonable value at a lower cost. Here strategy is seen as making a choice between differentiation and low cost. In contrast, those that seek to create blue oceans pursue differentiation and low cost simultaneously.”

5. “Voluntary cooperation is more than mechanical execution, where people do only what it takes to get by. It involves going beyond the call of duty, wherein individuals exert energy and initiative to the best of their abilities—even subordinating personal self-interest—to execute resulting strategies.”

6. “Given the high potential for free riding, an offering’s reputation must be earned on day one, because brand building increasingly relies heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations spreading rapidly through our networked society.”

1. Create Uncontested Market Space

Instead of competing in existing markets (red oceans), create new market categories where competition is irrelevant (blue oceans). Look for ways to serve non-customers or redefine industry boundaries. Innovation that creates new demand is more profitable than fighting over existing customers.

2. Pursue Differentiation AND Low Cost

Traditional strategy says you must choose between differentiation or low cost, but blue ocean strategy achieves both simultaneously. By eliminating industry factors that customers don't value while creating new ones they do value, you can offer unique benefits at lower costs than competitors.

3. Use the Four Actions Framework

Systematically challenge industry assumptions by asking: What factors should be eliminated? What should be reduced below industry standards? What should be raised above industry standards? What factors should be created that the industry has never offered? This framework helps reconstruct market boundaries.

4. Focus on the Big Picture, Not Numbers

Use visual strategy tools like the Strategy Canvas to see the big picture of competition and value creation. Most companies get lost in detailed data and miss strategic insights. Visual tools help identify patterns, gaps, and opportunities that spreadsheets obscure.

5. Reach Beyond Existing Demand

Look at non-customers: those who refuse to use industry products, those who use them minimally, and those who are unexplored. Understanding why these groups avoid your industry reveals opportunities to expand the market rather than just stealing market share from competitors.